The generation of anomalous heat from hydrogen and/or deuterium loaded in metals or alloys has been an ongoing topic of research for over 25 years. However, the mechanisms of, and triggers for, such exothermic reactions are not fully known. Devising a reliable triggering mechanism for exothermic reactions, to generate excess heat in a metal or alloy loaded with hydrogen/deuterium, stands as a major challenge in this field of research.
In the early 2000s, the present inventor triggered exothermic reactions by exciting a metal occluded with deuterium and natural abundance hydrogen with visible laser light. These experiments are detailed in published US Patent Application No. 2004/0173462, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Briefly, a metal electrode capable of absorbing hydrogen (e.g., palladium) was prepared by cold working, etching, polishing, cleaning and annealing, to increase the average grain size of the lattice and introduce dislocations to the lattice structure. After undergoing electrolysis in a solution of heavy water and acid or salts to load the electrode with hydrogen/deuterium, gold was plated onto the electrode. The electrode was then illuminated with a tunable laser beam focused to a narrow spot, with the frequency of the laser being adjusted. At certain laser frequencies, excess heat may be generated at a power density many times greater than that achievable in fuel cells. In one experiment, laser beams of two different frequencies were focused to the same spot, generating anomalous heat.
Recent research in exothermic reactions has utilized a sealed, metal reaction chamber, evacuated to a vacuum and into which controlled quantities of hydrogen/deuterium gas are introduced. The hydrogen/deuterium molecules in a plasma are accelerated to a hydrogen-absorbing metal or alloy plated onto an electrode or the (grounded) interior surface of the chamber wall (acting as a cathode). Because the reaction chamber is opaque, laser light cannot easily be used to trigger exothermic reactions in the hydrogen/deuterium-loaded metal.
The Background section of this document is provided to place embodiments of the present invention in technological and operational context, to assist those of skill in the art in understanding their scope and utility. Approaches described in the Background section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Unless explicitly identified as such, no statement herein is admitted to be prior art merely by its inclusion in the Background section.